Lawyer’s wife ‘stabbed him to death when he was sacked’
Solicitor suffered wound from kitchen knife weeks after wedding ‘following row over redundancy’
A NEWLYWED who “liked the idea” of being a solicitor’s wife stabbed her husband in the heart with a kitchen knife after finding out he had lost his job, a court heard.
Sharon Edwards, 42, is accused of murdering criminal lawyer David Edwards, 51, at their home in Chorley, Lancashire, after they returned from a holiday in Spain.
Mrs Edwards claimed that her husband “walked into” a knife she took from him after he waved it at her in a domestic dispute, and despite the altercation the pair went on to have sex the same night.
The couple had married in Las Vegas in June 2015, just two months before Mr Edwards’ death. He was said to have been “plainly besotted” with his new wife, who was described to jurors as “domineering, possessive” and “very jealous”.
Anne Whyte QC, for the prosecution, suggested that Mrs Edwards “perhaps quite liked the idea of being Mrs Edwards, a solicitor’s wife”, but the couple argued after he discovered he was to be made redundant.
Mr Edwards was found dead in bed, having sustained a 3in long and 0.8in wide knife stab wound to the chest in the second of two attacks at their home in as many days.
When asked by police what had happened, Mrs Edwards said they had rowed and wedding photographs had been ripped up. She claimed he had taken a knife from the kitchen and waved it at her before she took it off him and he had walked towards her.
Miss Whyte said Mrs Edwards told police: “I didn’t know he had walked into it until I saw all the blood”, and stated he had “begged” her not to call for an ambulance.
She claimed they went upstairs to have sex and his wound had stopped bleeding by the time she fell asleep on the sofa.
Mr Edwards was “under the thumb” after meeting his wife-to-be in June 2014, and was even recorded saying his new wife could “knock him out with one punch” and that she hit “rather hard”, jurors at Manchester Crown Court were told.
“Despite the turbulence that was to characterise their relationship, he was plainly besotted with her and plainly felt that she was the one for him,” Miss Whyte said.
The court heard that on the evening before his death, Mrs Edwards’s daughter had discovered Mr Edwards in the bathroom “calling for help” and cleaning blood from his chest. When she was confronted by her daughter, jurors were told that Mrs Edwards said she had put a knife to his chest but had not intended to hurt him.
Despite Mr Edwards bleeding from the chest and leg and being “visibly injured”, with blood on his clothes, the couple went out to the pub. The pair were later found arguing in the street before being taken home by police.
The next day Mr Edwards was found dead in bed.
Mrs Edwards has pleaded not guilty to murder. The trial continues.
‘Despite the turbulence that was to characterise their relationship, he was plainly besotted with her’